Despite efforts to increase the quality of American education, many children continue to perform poorly in school. In fact, the U.S. Department of Education has estimated that among the nation's 12th graders, 83 percent lack proficiency in mathematics.
One reason for this poor performance is lack of motivation. Many children do not exert themselves fully in classroom assignments and homework because the benefits, such as increased earnings and well-roundedness, will not be appreciated for years.
In an effort to address this problem, numerous alternatives to the traditional classroom method of learning have emerged. One such alternative is known as rewards-based education. These systems reward students upon accomplishing certain educational goals. This reinforcement is meant to motivate the students to work harder at school-related tasks.
One such type of such a system is found at Barton Elementary School in Chicago, Ill., where teachers reward students with “Barton Bucks” for attending class, handing in homework on time, proper uniform dress, answering test prep questions correctly, and writing exceptional essays for class. Students may spend the Barton Bucks they accumulate on “prizes” at a school store. However, the students have a limited array of awards, since they can only trade the Barton Bucks for the items the school store chooses to offer.
One way of addressing that problem would be to negotiate commitments from one or more merchants to accept the points in exchange for the goods and services they offer. However, such an arrangement still limits a participating child's point redemption options to the items those merchants offer. Additionally, merchants may be hesitant to agree to such an arrangement without a sufficient guarantee that they would be reimbursed for the items they provide.
Furthermore, that system still fails to include a mechanism for tracking and processing information regarding the items the children purchase with the points they earn. But this information has potentially great value, since it provides children's purchase histories. Such information is rarely available elsewhere, since children are generally ineligible for opening credit card or other credit-based accounts. The purchase histories could be used, for example, in targeted advertising campaigns, or sold.